Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov was hurt against the Minnesota Wild but could return Thursday against the New Jersey Devils. (Ann Heisenfelt, The Associated Press)

The Avalanche game story from Tuesday’s 5-2 loss to the Los Angeles Kings is here.

The Avs on Wednesday practiced like it was their last. Very spirited, intense practice. But no Semyon Varlamov, who was scratched Tuesday with another (or the same) groin injury. In his post-practice presser, coach Patrick Roy said he expects Varlamov to participate in Thursday’s morning skate and he might start against the New Jersey Devils. Roy also said the groin injury is not as serious as the one that forced him to miss 15 games over three stretches earlier in the season, or even to the same muscle. But he declined to get into it further.

Paul Carey against the Blackhawks late last season (Doug Pensinger, Getty Images)

After arriving back from Chicago during the night, and once it was determined Snowmageddon would be at least delayed, the Avalanche practiced Saturday afternoon at Family Sports Center. Colorado next faces the Tampa Bay Lightning Sunday at 5 p.m. in the Pepsi Center.

“The only reason why we’re on the ice today is because we’re not going to skate tomorrow morning,” Patrick Roy said. “If it would have been a 7 o’clock game, I don’t think we would be here today. The fact that tomorrow morning, we’re not even going to be going to the rink, so I thought it would be good for us to go for less than 30 minutes, 25 minutes, just move our pick, move our feet, to make sure we’re ready for a strong game tomorrow.”

Roy is reluctant to look ahead, but I asked him what the 4-1 victory at Chicago Friday could mean for this team.Read more…

Comments Off on From Avalanche practice: Patrick Roy comments and Paul Carey on his return

Here’s my Monday post-practice online story, taking a look at the Avalanche goaltending plans for the near future. In other words, it’s Varlamov every night for the short term, until next week’s long road trip, but then what?

They’re not dodging the issue. It’s just that the question is always the same and the answers aren’t changing — because the Avs keep doing the same thing. Or keep not doing the same thing.

The Avs are allowing too many shots (35.8 per game, third-most in the NHL). By extension, they also aren’t possessing the puck enough. But in a nutshell, in the simplest of stats, they’re getting out-shot.

But Roy, to his credit, on Wednesday tried to break down the Avs’ issues. (Honestly, how many different ways can you say your team is stinking?)

It seems contradictory to think the Minnesota Wild might sneak up on the Avalanche. The two teams have played each other in eight straight games dating to a seven-game playoff series last season. And the Wild won five of the past six, including a blowout victory over Colorado on Thursday.

But Avs center Matt Duchene said Colorado didn’t see the train coming before it ran them over on Thursday.

“We just weren’t ready for last night,” Duchene said Friday after a gym workout. “We didn’t know what was going to hit us. We played terrible.”

Brett Clark battles for control over of the puck against the defense of Ryan Kesler, center, and Mattias Ohlund, right, of the Vancouver Canucks during a game on March 29, 2009, at the Pepsi Center. (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Former Avs defenseman Brett Clark is officially a member of the organization again. The classy native of Wapella, Saskatchewan, Canada, has been hired as a consultant in the player development department.

He has been on hand here at rookie camp the last couple of days overseeing things. Clark is a tremendous guy who will be a big asset to the team, no doubt.
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Day 2 of rookie camp is winding up here, meanwhile. Assistant coach Andre Tourigny was on the ice on Tuesday helping out, as was Tim Army. We haven’t seen Patrick Roy here yet.

I’ll have a story on Mitchell Heard, the second-round pick from a couple years ago, in Wednesday’s paper. A lot of the Avs veteran players were on hand Tuesday, and I’m pretty sure a lot of them will be skating after the rookies leave the ice. One rink at Family Sports Center has been unavailable because of refrigeration problems, which have been ongoing.

My colleague Mike Chambers will have a story in the paper tomorrow on Duncan Siemens, and he has an online story from Monday’s start of Avalanche rookie camp.
Video of Conner Bleackley talking about today also is here:

A few impressions from me on the first day:
– I would classify what I saw as kind of a routine day, just some general scrimmaging and not a whole lot else. I thought Bleackley looked good, and you can tell by the video that he is in good shape. He seems to have become a bit more chiseled since he was drafted over the summer.Read more…

Game 7 on Wednesday night between the Minnesota Wild and Avalanche at the Pepsi Center will be the middle game of the NHL’s first Game 7 tripleheader in 11 years. According to NBC Sports Network, viewership this month is up 126 percent from April last year, and no doubt Wednesday night’s games will blow that percentage up even more.

Our online reports from the Avalanche and Wild morning skates are posted. The Avs piece looks at a coach Patrick Roy “selling” his players on Game 7 and confirmation that rookie Joey Hishon will rejoin the lineup and center Max Talbot and Jamie McGinn on the third line. As Talbot told me, if the Avs had more scoring from the third (or fourth) line this series would probably be over and we’d be talking Chicago. More on that online and in Thursday’s paper.

Only a handful of Colorado Avalanche players skated Sunday at the team’s practice complex. Matt Duchene was the last player off the ice, partly, I’m sure, because the team doesn’t want him to speak to the media while exiting the locker room. That’s just the way it is. If Duchene plays in Game 6 Monday in St. Paul, he will be available to comment after the morning skate.

Optional skate for the Burgundy and Blue today, and most players opted not to lace up the skates.

By this time of year, players have gotten enough practice and know their team systems pretty well. It’s more about rest between games than expenditure of calories doing rote practice routines. That said, a lot of stuff happens off the ice. Lots of team meetings, lots of video sessions, lots of talk about adjustments from the previous game.

Every team that loses a playoff game says the same stuff the next day, for the most part. The Wild talked a lot today about the need to adjust this and the need to adjust that, and when that happens, all will be well. But the Avs also spent a lot of time today talking about the need for adjustments. Read more…

Matt Duchene of Canada is defended by Jonathan Ericsson of Sweden during the first period of the men’s ice hockey gold medal game during the Sochi Winter Olympics on Sunday, Feb. 23, 2014 at Bolshoy Ice Arena. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

How strongly does Olympic gold-medalist Matt Duchene feel about his athletic recovery? He thought about taking his bed to Russia for the Sochi Olympics. Actually, Duchene accepted an offer to have a duplicate Essentia bed from what he sleeps on in his southeast suburb residence shipped to Sochi, but ultimately he declined and settled for what was in his tight sleeping quarters.

“We had heard it was impossible to get stuff in and out (through customs), so I told him ‘Hey, don’t bother. It probably won’t even get there,'” Duchene said after today’s practice. “But that would have been nice to have one of those over there. I don’t know if I would have had enough room in my room for it, but I’ll tell you one thing: I slept like a baby when I got back here. Hard to get out of bed the last couple days.”

Steve Downie was a man of few words this morning, when asked about playing for the first time against the Avalanche since being traded for Max Talbot a couple months ago.

That is usually the case with Downie, who doesn’t love doing a lot of interviews. Not that he was rude or anything, but he shrugged off any suggestion tonight’s game might mean more to him than the usual game.

In today’s paper and online, the Avalanche/Stars spotlight is on Jamie Benn: The Dallas power forward could be indirectly blamed for the ongoing contract dispute between the Avalanche and center Ryan O’Reilly, who wants the type of long-term deal Benn recently signed. Benn, 23, and O’Reilly, 22 on Thursday, became restricted free agents last spring after concluding their three-year, entry- level contracts. Benn signed a five-year, $26.25 million contract Jan. 24. Benn scored 22, 22 and 26 goals in his first three seasons. He had 37 assists and 63 points as an NHL all-star last season. O’Reilly led the Avs with 37 assists and 55 points last season.

Big difference: Benn had 70 goals in three years; O’Reilly 39 (eight, 13, 18). O’Reilly is arguably the better defensive forward, but … You decide: Should Factor get that kind of money on a five-year deal?

EDMONTON, Alberta – Insert your cheap joke here that the Avs won’t be practicing Tuesday. The new CBA mandates that teams take a minimum of four days off per month, however. This will be one of them.

Obviously, the Avs could use a little extra work at the next practice, though, on their penalty kill. Just brutal. Seven PP goals against in the last two games, and the only other goal that wasn’t in that span came 11 seconds after a John Mitchell penalty expired in San Jose, and the puck never left the Avs’ zone. Good times.

I’m on to Vancouver now from chilly Edmonton. How chilly? Try minus-45 Fahrenheit with the wind chill. About as cold as I’ve ever been, though I still think there was a year in 1995 when it was colder, in Winnipeg.

Terry Frei graduated from Wheat Ridge High School in the Denver area and has degrees in history and journalism from the University of Colorado-Boulder. He worked for the Rocky Mountain News while attending CU and joined the Post staff after graduation. He has also worked at the Oregonian in Portland, Ore., and The Sporting News. His seventh book, March 1939: Before the Madness, was issued in February 2014.

Chambers covers college and professional hockey for The Denver Post. He has written for the Post since 1994, after dumping his first 9-to-5 office job a couple years out of college. He primarily follows the University of Denver hockey team and helps cover the Avalanche.